Quick opening latch mechanism



Sept. 2, 1969 w. B. DEAN QUICK OPENING LATCH MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 30, 1967 INVENTOR.

WALTER B. DEAN AGENT Sept. 2, 1969 w. B. DEAN QUICK OPENING LATCH MECHANISM I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 30, 1967 INVENTOR.

WALTER B. DEAN W. B. DEAN QUICK OPENING LATCH MECHANISM Sept. 2, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 30, 1967 INVENTOR. WALTER B. DEAN AGENT 3,464,726 QUICK OPENING LATCH MECHANISM Walter B. Dean, Narberth, Pa, assignor to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvama Filed Oct. 30, 1967, Ser. No. 678,806 Int. Cl. EOSc 9/12, 1/06; B6511 45/00 U.S. Cl. 292-39 Claims ABSCT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates in general to improved latch mechanisms for use in atmospheric structures, such as scientific satellites, photographic systems .and electrooptical systems. Such structures normally house photographic devices or instruments and employ latching covers with sealing devices to enable access thereto. The structures of necessity require a lightweight construction, a leak-tight assembly, and low thermal conductance. A pitfall or problem area of some of the prior art devices previously built has been in their extreme sensitivity to leakage.

Accordingly it is the principal object of this invention to provide an improved latch mechanism for a pressure shell structure which avoids one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art mechanisms and which has assured leak tightness and structural integrity.

It is a further important object of this invention to provide an improved latch mechanism for providing a. uniform sealing pressure around the periphery of an access door of a pressure container.

It is a further important object of this invention to provide an improved latching mechanism for a door of a pressure container having camming strip means for applying uniform pressure around the periphery of the door.

For a better understanding of the present invention together with other and further objects thereof, reference is bad to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a dagrammatic perspective view of a container such as a pressure cell device with parts omitted and which is provided with the door latch mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the door latch mechanism shown in position on the pressure shell assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 through a handle of the latch mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 illustrating the framing surrounding the door panel and the framing encompassing the peripheral opening in the pressure container;

FIG. 5 is a sectional View taken along the line 55 of FIG. 4 illustrating a camming strip and rollers associated therewith;

FIG. 6 is a view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2 and illustrating the coaotion of a camming strip with rollers .associated therewith;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of one of the camming strips removed from the mechanism.

Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown a pressure shell container assembly 10 of rectangular configuration and which includes a top panel 11 having an opening 12 to 3,454,726 Patented Sept. 2, 1969 receive a door 13 therein. The door opening 12 includes a frame 14 which extends around its margins, and the door 13 also includes a frame 15 extending about its periphery. The frames 14, 15 are made as weldments and are continuous in their periphery.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 5 the frame 14 surrounding the opening 12 may be the form of a hollow extrusion having a lower horizontally extending flange portion 17 with .a rectangular groove 18 milled in its upper horizontal face to receive a suitable seal member 19 therein. The flange member 17 extends outwardly from a vertically extending shoulder portion 16. The vertical shoulder or Web 16 carries along its upper edge a plurality of projecting means which may be upper rollers 20 which are uniformly spaced about the periphery of the opening 12.

The door 13 consists of two thin stress bearing sheets 13a, 13b, bonded together by means of a very light core of plastic material to give a high shear strength. The outer marginal edges of the door panel 13 are received in the aforementioned door frame 15. The frame is likewise formed of extruded material and as seen in FIG. 5 includes a rectangular body portion 21 which overlies the flange portion 17 .and seal 19 of frame 14. The outer vertical side edge of the body portion 21 carries a plurality of additional projecting means constituting lower rollers 22 spaced between but positioned beneath the upper rollers 20.The body portion 21 has formed integrally therewith a lower inwardly extending flange 23, which supports the sandwich panel 13 of the door.

An upper flange 24, parallel with, but of less width than flange 23, extends outwardly above lower flange 23 with its top surface parallel to the top surface of the sandwich board. The edges of the sandwich panel 13 are bonded to frame 15' by means of a suitable adhesive 25, such as epoxy, and an overlay strip 26 is likewise bonded to flange 24 and the panel 13. The lower side edge of the door, FIG. 2, is hinged to the top of the container 12 as by hinges 27 to enable the door 13 to be raised and lowered into place.

A plurality of camming strips 29, 30, 31, 32 are disposed about the periphery of the door. As seen in FIG. 7 the camming strips include a plurality of notches 37 along their outer edges and include a plurality of rack teeth 38 along an inner edge at one end thereof. The notches 37 correspond in number to the top rollers 20 carried by the side frame 14 in top 11 of the pressure shell. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 5 each strip has the major portion of its Width received within an elongated horizontally disposed slot 35 cut within body portion 21 of door frame 15. The remaining portion of the width overhangs the body portion 21 of the frame 15 so as to come between the upper and lower sets of rollers 20, 22 respectively.

As seen in FIG. 6 the top surface of the roller 22 lies above the lower surface of groove 35 thereby eliminating some of the frictional drag between camming strip 29 and the lower surface.

With reference to FIG. 2 it is observed that the notches 37 contained in the overhanging edge portions of the aforementioned camming strips 29, 30, 31, 32 clear the upper rollers 20 on the top cover frame 14 when the cover door 13 is lowered. Thereafter when the door is snugged down to a closed position, the aforementioned camming strips may each be wedged between the upper and lower rollers 21, 22, as the strips are translated linearly. This action produces a compressive force which squeezes the O ring 19 and produces contact forces well in excess of the opening force due to internal pressure Within the pressure container.

In order to move the camming strips along their longitudinal axes, means are provided to mesh with the toothed segments 38. For this purpose pinion means 41 are mounted at diagonally opposed corners of the door. In order to provide rotative support for the pinions the door includes reinforced corner plate portions 45 integral with door frame 15. Each of the plate portions contain concentric recesses, upper 47, to receive the body 43 of the pinion, and lower 49 to receive the stud portion 51 integral with the body portion 43. A retaining ring 53 received in slot 54 of upper recess 47 coacts with the top face of the pinion to keep the same properly seated.

In order to impart linear motion to the camming strips by a single hand, common latch handle means 58, are provided centrally of the door. As seen in FIG. 3, the door 13 is apertured as at 57 to receive a reinforcing fitting 59. The latter fitting includes a lower horizontal flange 60 which supports the panel 13 at the margins of the aperture and is sealed in place by a suitable cement 61 such as epoxy. Sealing strips 62 lies over the outer edges of the fitting and the panel.

The fitting 59 includes an upwardly extending boss portion 63 and from which protrudes a concentric shaft portion 64. A disk member 65 having a handle 66 suitably hinged thereto is secured to the shaft 64 by means of retaining ring 67. A pair of link elements 68 are pinned at one of their ends as at 69 to the disk 65. The links are disposed in parallel relationship to each other, the pins 69 being located diametrically of the disk 65. One of the links extends to the pinion 41 in one corner of the door while the other extends to the diagonally opposed pinion 41. Each link includes a rack portion 71 having teeth 72 to engage pinions 41. The two diagonally disposed pinions 41 are thus linked by links 68 to the disk and handle 66 such that rotation of the same simultaneously rotates the pinions 41. The four camming strips 39, 30, 31, 32 are actuated in unison by pinions 41 by means of torque delivered by a single hand. As seen in FIG. 2, the door handle 66 is shown rotated to its counterclockwise position and is limited in its rotation by means of stop 75 which engages one end of cutout 76. In addition the notches 37 in the camming strips are positioned above and clear the top rollers 22 in the outer frame 14. Rotation of the handle 66 in a clockwise direction will actuate links in a direction corresponding to the arrows A and B. This action in turn will rotate the pinions 41 by virtue of engagement with rack ends 71. Rotation of pinions 41 in turn imparts linear motion to camming strips 29, 30, 31 and 32. Vertically disposed rollers 77 disposed at opposite ends of the strips and mounted in frame 15 (see FIG. 6) retain the aforementioned camming strips in their respective grooves 35. As the camming strips are moved linearly, the top rollers 20, as seen in FIG. 6, are caused to ride the inclined surfaces 79 adjacent the notches 37 of the strips. Further movement of each strip wedges the strip between the upper and lower rollers 20, 22 respectively. It is thus seen that the frictional forces are principally rolling friction between the rollers and the camming strip.

The camming action between each strip and the rollers is positive, yet it also provides an elastic spring force due to the deflection of the strip due to changes in internal pressure within the pressure cell relative to the pressure externally of the cell. While the amount of deflection shown in FIG. 6 is greatly exaggerated for purposes of clarity, it should be noted that there is no elastic instability which will cause excessive binding between groove 35 of frame 15 and each camming strip. It should be further noted that while the preferred embodiment indicates the use of upper and lower rollers 20, 22 respectively, it will be apparent that other projecting means in the form of non-rotatable studs having a low coefficient of friction could be used. In this case the camming strips would slide relative to the projecting means.

While there has been described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing therefrom, and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A latch mechanism for a door to close an opening in a container, comprising first roller means mounted on said container about the margins of said opening of said container, second roller means mounted about the periphery of said door, said second roller means being staggered realtive to said first roller means, camming strip means mounted for movement between said first and said second roller means, and means for moving said strip means.

2. In the latch mechanism set forth in claim 1 wherein said camming strip means define cut-out portions to enable clearance relative to said first roller means upon movement of said door relative to said container.

3. In the latch mechanism set forth in claim 2 wherein said door includes pinion means and said camming strip means include gear teeth for engagement with said pinion means.

4. In the latch mechanism set out in claim 1 wherein said periphery of said door includes a groove and wherein said camming strip means are partially received within said grooves and include a marginal edge portion containing cut-out portions which overhang said first-named roller means.

5. In the latch mechanism set out in claim 3 wherein said door includes disc means mounted for rotation thereon, link means interconnecting said disk means to said pinion means, whereby upon application of torque to said disk means rotation is imparted to said pinion means to linearly actuate said camming strip means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,548,882 8/1925 Hemphill 29239 X 2,391,407 12/1945 Funk 29239 X 2,486,460 11/1949 Bonenberger 29239 X DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKI, Primary Examiner I. K. BELL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

